On July 1, 2025, officers responded to a call for fraud at a business located in Brea, California. Officers spoke with D. V., the owner, who stated that on June 6, 2025, someone claiming to be a vendor contacted the business and provided updated banking information for payments listing a Chase Bank account ending in 1105. The business placed an order with the vendor on June 10, 2025, and sent a $16,792.95 payment to the account ending in 1105. The business never received the order and on June 30, 2025, the vendor stated that the order did not ship because payment was never received.
The vendor then determined that the email received by the business on June 6, 2025 with updated payment information was fraudulent and the account information provided did not belong to the vendor. Officers obtained a warrant for the Chase Bank account and determined that belonged to Kemia Kaimah Kpou, a resident of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Records from the account show that the $16,792.95 payment arrived in the account on June 11, 2025, and the money was transferred out in nine CashApp transactions the same date, leaving the account with a balance of $0.90. The case was forwarded to officers in Brooklyn Center, who obtained warrants for Kpou’s arrest and a search of her residence and vehicle.
On September 4, 2025, officers executed the warrants at Kpou’s residence at [ADDRESS REDACTED] in Brooklyn Center. During the search, officers located mail and paperwork from Chase Bank related to the account ending in 1105. In a post-Miranda statement, Kpou told officers that she had let someone she knew use her Chase account to receive and transfer the $16,792.95. Kpou stated that the money was transferred from her Chase account to her CashApp account, then to the other person’s CashApp account where the money was subsequently converted into cryptocurrency.
Kpou said she thought the money was from an unrelated fraudulent federal income tax filing that had been submitted on her behalf. Officers also obtained a search warrant for Kpou’s phone, which contained conversations between her and the other individual regarding transferring the money. Kpou later told officers that she was driven around to banks by another person to withdraw the money she received and provided the money to the person who used her account. Kpou told officers that she kept approximately $9,000 for herself and used the money to buy a car and take a trip to another state.
